New Education Grant Aims to Teach
Cultural Values and Increase Graduation Rates in the YK DeltaTake Wing “Tengluni” Project Prepares Students for
Graduation and Post-Secondary Education

(Anchorage, Alaska) – Calista Education and Culture, Inc. (CECI) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Alaska Native Education Program. The new education grant serves 570 high school students in 14 schools throughout the Calista Region of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

The new grant funds the Take
Wing “Tengluni” [DUHN-loo-nee] project. Take Wing “Tengluni” aims to
increase high school graduation rates and postsecondary preparedness.

The project fosters traditional
Yuuyaraq [YUU-yah-uk] values and teachings and provides formal
mentoring to navigate the postsecondary education experience. Yuuyaraq
translates in Yup’ik to “The Way of Being.”

The Take Wing “Tengluni” project was developed in collaboration with Alaska Humanities Forum and in consultation with the Kuspuk, Lower Kuskokwim and Yupiit School Districts. The project model includes on-site school seminars, skills training, and healthy and safe choice learning sessions. Most importantly the project weaves CECI’s Yuuyaraq curriculum throughout the student seminars and immersion experiences.

The project team will travel in
November and early December to four schools conducting two-day seminars and
recruiting for the project’s four cohorts of Take Wing “Tengluni” Immersions.

Each Immersion cohort will have 25
high school juniors who will participate in three weeklong postsecondary Immersions.
The students will explore career opportunities and learn soft skills and
practical skills to navigate postsecondary systems while learning about Yuuyaraq.
The fourth Immersion takes place in the students’ 12th grade year. They receive
formal mentoring led by the project’s Mentorship Director.

The deadline to apply for Take Wing “Tengluni” Immersions, Cohorts I and II, is November 25, 2019.